The final week of racing in July continues on Thursday afternoon with an eight-race card now that the featured Glens Falls (G2) has been moved to Sunday afternoon. The card commences at 1:10 PM eastern. Here are a couple of horses I like most on the day.

Race 4:

He will not be a big price to kick off the Thursday Pick 6, but #5 Preside should be tough to beat in this seven-horse field of MSW foes going 1 1/8-miles over the main track. The $1.5M OBS April ’25 purchase was off to a very slow start on debut before making a middle move and tiring late going seven-furlongs on June 7. Trainer Steve Asmussen brought the Tiz the Law colt back just 20 days later in Louisville to make his first two-turn start and he moved forward significantly. Not only did Preside show far more gate speed than he did in his first start, but ran very well overall to finish second beaten just half a length. He has three local works since, retains the services of Irad Ortiz Jr., and should beat this group with a repeat of his run at Churchill Downs a month ago over the off track.

Play: #5 Preside (7-5 ML)

Picks: 5-1-6

Race 6:

My next play comes in this open $30k claimer over the main track where I do not trust the ML favorites. #2 Run Classic’s best races crush this field, but I have major concerns about where the 8YO is at this point of his career. He moves into the Joe Sharp barn and drops in class in his first start since late May, but is likely to take too much public support. #3 Pair of Socks also drops in class off the freshening for Linda Rice. He was consistent this winter/spring at Aqueduct hitting the board in all five starts, but earned just one win to show for it. Plus, Rice is off to a chilly start to the summer, especially over the dirt. The veteran conditioner is just 3 for 38 heading into action on Wednesday dating back to the start of the meeting for a $0.53 ROI making this one tough to get excited about at his 2-1-ML offering.

I will try to get the jump on them both with New York-bred #5 Factually Correct. The son of Tourist was claimed out of his last race by low profile trainer Roshan Samshunder. The new connections leg up Kendrick Carmouche after watching the gelding get caught in chase mode in a race where the two speeds dominated from start-to-finish on July 9. Carmouche should have no issue getting this one into the race and is probably the horse that moves up most over a potential off track. Hopefully, it propels him to his first career victory at the Spa.

Play: #5 Factually Correct (9-2 ML)

Picks: 5-2-4